An Introduction to Gender-Responsive Green Growth

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2019, DCED – 12 pages

This Guidance Sheet provides a brief introduction to the nexus of gender and green growth. Its purpose is to support practitioners working on the design and implementation of development programmes to consider the gender dimensions of green growth. It sets out the case for integrating gender into green economy programmes, presents case studies of existing donor projects, and provides guidelines and resources on how to incorporate a gender dimension in green growth processes and approaches.

 

How to put Gender and WEE into practice in M4P: A Description of the Ethos, Systems and Tools used in the Alliances Programme in Georgia

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2016, DCED – 22 pages

The paper focuses on how the impact of development programming can be equitably distributed amongst male and female beneficiaries. It focuses on the Alliances Lesser Caucasus Programme in Georgia and examines how to put gender and WEE into practice in a “making markets work for the poor” (M4P) approach.

The key lessons for practitioners that are outlined in this paper include:

  • Building effective teams for WEE;
  • generating and using WEE indicators;
  • carrying out effective fieldwork;
  • issues related to gender-disaggregated data;
  • negotiating institutional norms;
  • contextualising WEE impact.

Business Environment Reform and Gender, Technical paper

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2016, DCED – 97 pages

This study on business environment reform and gender highlights gaps in the evidence basis. It provides support to donors in formulating and implementing gender-sensitive business environment reform programmes in developing countries, which contribute to a more conducive business environment that works for women as well as men. It addresses the following questions:

  • What are the factors in the business environment that have a direct and specific impact on women-owned and managed enterprises and the employment of women?
  • What are the related lessons learned from previous and existing programmes on identifying, measuring and managing gender in business environment reform programmes?

Main takeaways:

  • The greatest quantity of evidence concerns actual reforms or impacts related to childcare provision followed by substantial evidence on the positive impacts of the administration of joint land titles and women’s engagement in business associations.
  • The literature review found that any gender-sensitive business environment reform may require addressing more than the direct business environment factors that impact women’s employment and their enterprise. Equally important will be addressing socio-cultural binding constraints on women, which impact a women’s ability to engage in employment and entrepreneurship with implications for WEE and sustainable economic growth.

Gender-Sensitive Business Environment Reform: Why does it matter? – A policy guide

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2017, DCED – 11 pages

The premise of this policy guide is that without addressing gender-specific issues or women’s greater vulnerability to business environment constraints at all levels, functions and components of the business environment, women’s employment and entrepreneurship will be hampered. This in turn will have serious implications for WEE, gender equality, jobs, income, and poverty alleviation. It is essential that donors mainstream gender considerations while further seeking to achieve transformative change during business environment reform interventions at all stages of the programme development cycle. As gender influences and is influenced by all aspects of the business environment, it also needs to be considered for all aspects and stages of programming. Critically, any gender-sensitive business environment reform will require addressing not only the factors that directly restrict women’s employment and entrepreneurship but also the socio-cultural binding constraints on women to effectively remove negative implications on economic empowerment and sustainable economic growth.

Case Study: Gender-Sensitive Business Environment Reform and Informality

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2017, DCED – 30 pages

Gender-sensitive business environment reform can play a valuable role in reducing the overall levels of informality and unfair competition for registered firms, drive tax revenues and regulatory oversight, as well as support the graduation of women’s and men’s enterprises and employment into the formal economy. This case study provides an overview of the business environment constraints for women entrepreneurs to formalising their business activity. Furthermore, it highlights from a limited sample, examples of gender-sensitive business environment reform programmes that have addressed the direct and indirect business environment constraints to business registration and licensing and details their approaches, success factors and lessons learned.

 

Case Study: Advancing Women’s Financial Inclusion through Gender-Sensitive Business Environment Reform

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2017, DCED – 34 pages

Gender-sensitive business environment reform refers to changes in policy, legal, institutional, and regulatory conditions that govern business activities in ways that account for the dynamics of socially constructed relationships between men and women. A gender-sensitive business environment can play an enabling role in addressing women’s financial inclusion. This case study provides an overview of the business environment constraints to women’s financial inclusion. Furthermore, it highlights from a limited sample, examples of gender-sensitive business environment reform interventions that have addressed the direct and indirect business environment constraints to women’s financial inclusion and details their approaches, success factors and lessons learned.

Measurement of Women’s Economic Empowerment – WOW (2020)

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2020, WOW – 54 pages

This Guidance Note identifies core indicators, principles, and recommendations for effective, consistent measurement of WEE. It includes a recognition that there is no universal set of indicators that will be appropriate for every project, in every sector and every context. To provide effective measurement and avoid negative unintended impacts, selection of indicators must follow on from a robust context-specific gender analysis to guide decision making about the measurable outcomes the programme is aiming to achieve. Principles for effective WEE measurement within economic development programming include:

  • Build programmes on strong context-specific gender analysis.
  • Develop a causal chain (logframe) and theory of change that is informed by an understanding of the context and previous experience with the same or similar interventions in similar settings.
  • Measure what matters to diverse women and girls and disaggregate measures accordingly.
  • Measure both economic and social outcomes.
  • Measure change at individual and household levels.
  • Measure access, control, and constraints.
  • Consider – and measure – risks and unintended effects.
  • Data collection choices matter.

Measuring WEE: A Compendium of Selected Tools – CGD (2020)

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2020, CGD – 120 pages

This compendium selects and reviews tools for measuring WEE (or disempowerment) grouped into 20 population monitoring tools and 15 monitoring and evaluation tools (M&E). The main objective is practical: helping readers both understand how different measurement tools are built and select among the most well-known and widely (cross-culturally) applicable tools for different purposes. The following basic questions help readers select which WEE measurement tool is a “good fit for your purpose”:

  • What is your desired objective? (Population monitoring or M&E)
  • What is your substantive focus? (e.g., gender equality, women’s legal rights, women’s empowerment in agriculture)
  • What specific dimensions of WEE interest you? (e.g., financial inclusion, land rights)
  • What population of women are you seeking to learn about? (Women globally, women entrepreneurs, women in Africa)

What level(s) of outcomes — direct, intermediate and/or final — interest you?

A Practical Guide to Measuring Women’s and Girls’ Empowerment in Impact Evaluations – JPAL (2018)

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2018, JPAL – 52 pages

This practical guide can help provide researchers and practitioners with the tools to select or develop their own indicators of empowerment that are right for their impact evaluations. It emphasises the importance of conducting in-depth formative research to understand gender dynamics in the specific context before starting an evaluation, developing locally tailored indicators to complement internationally standardised ones, and reducing the potential for reporting bias in instruments and data collection plans. Instead of providing a single set of ready-to-go survey instruments, a process for developing indicators appropriate to each study is outlined along with extensive examples. Additionally, the guide highlights key challenges for measuring empowerment:

  • measuring people’s ability to make important life choices is challenging because we rarely observe decision-making directly.
  • empowerment is a process.
  • many aspects of empowerment are susceptible to reporting bias.
  • empowerment means different things in different contexts.
  • prioritizing outcome measures is difficult.
  • measuring women’s preferences is challenging in contexts where women have internalised society’s views.
  • disempowerment can heighten data collection challenges.

Toolkits from the UN Secretary-General’s High Level Panel on WEE – UN Women (2017)

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2017, UN Women – online tool

A host of comprehensive resources from the UN Secretary-General’s High-Level Panel on WEE, making the case for investment in WEE, its timeliness and the current landscape. The platform also includes several “how -to” guides that detail appropriate courses of action on the seven drivers of transformation:

  • Driver 1: How to change norms in support of women’s economic empowerment
  • Driver 2: How to ensure legal protections and reform discriminatory laws and regulations
  • Driver 3: How to recognize, reduce and redistribute unpaid work and care
  • Driver 4: How to build assets – digital, financial and property
  • Driver 5: How to change business culture and practice
  • Driver 6: How to improve public sector practices in employment and procurement
  • Driver 7: How to strengthen visibility, collective voice and representation